Surah Ghafir 40:51-60 - Quran Translation Commentary

51. Verily We help ⁷⁵ Our messengers, and those who believe, in the life of the world, and will help them on the Day the witnesses will rise (to testily).⁷⁶

52. The day when no excuse will help the evildoers;⁷⁷ and theirs is the curse, and theirs the ill abode.

53. And verily We gave Moosa the guidance, and We caused the Bani Israil to inherit the Book! ⁷⁸

54. A guidance and a reminder for men of understanding

55. So have patience, Allah’s promise is true. And ask forgiveness for your fault,⁷⁹ and recite His praise (tasbih) morning and evening.

56. Verily, those who dispute concerning the revelations of Allah without any authority having come to them, there is nothing in their breasts except pride (of their own greatness), which they will never attain.⁸⁰ So take refuge in Allah.⁸¹ Verily, He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.

57. Surely the creation of the heaven and the earth is greater than the creation of mankind, but most men do not know.⁸²

58. The blind and the seeing are not alike,⁸³ nor are those that believe and do good acts and the evildoer. Little do you think !

59. Verily, the Hour of Doomsday is sure to come, yet most men do not believe.

60. And your Lord has said: “Pray to Me and I will hear your prayer. Verily those who scorn worship,⁸⁴ they will enter Hell, disgraced.

Commentary

75. Allah always helps His messengers and the people of faith in opposition to the disbelievers. A clear example of this is the escape of Prophets Moosa and Haroon and Bani Israil from Firaun and safely crossing the sea, when Firaun and his army were drowned in it. Allah’s help had been appearing in varied forms for the Divine messengers and the people of faith. Prophets Nooh, Hood and Saleh and other prophets (peace be upon all of them)and many people of faith were saved from the Divine punishment, which descended upon their communities on account of their disbelief, and which destroyed them. After that power was attained by the people of faith. Similarly Allah’s help had appeared in the form of sword also. Accordingly Prophet Dawood defeated Jaloot (Goliath) and gained victory over his disbelieving community. Prophet Sulaiman was victorious against quite a number of disbelieving nations, and he was the ruler of a kingdom, which had no parallel in the world. In this ayah the glad tidings of the Divine help which is hidden, became evident after a few years in the Battle of Badr, and a further proof of it was supplied in the victory of Makkah, till finally the whole of Arabia was brought under the Muslim rule. There should be no misunderstanding in the case of Prophet Eesa (Jesus). It was Allah’s help only which helped him to come out safely from the grip of the enemy and his being lifted to the heaven. All the schemes of the enemies were unsuccessful. Although his followers had a long history of trials and tribulations, his message continued to spread. The power of his enemy, Jews, was broken by Allah through the agency of Romans and ultimately power was gained by the followers of Prophet Eesa.

76. That is: When the Day of Resurrection will occur, Allah will hold His court and the messengers of Allah will stand up to give witness, at that time Allah’s help, at its best, will be for the support of the messengers and the people of faith; and their stand will be declared right and they will come out successful in that court.

77. By wrong doers is meant disbelieves who had deviated from truth and justice and were doing wrong to their own selves. No excuse from them will be entertained, as Allah’s message was convincingly conveyed to them.

78. That is: Made them inheritors of the Torah.

79. The Divine messenger is also a slave of Allah. And it is appropriate to his position that he should consider himself negligent and seek pardon of his Lord, irrespective of the fact whether his negligence or defects are known to him or not. It increases a sense of obedience to the Lord and the slave becomes more deserving of His mercy. Therefore, the prophet, S.A.W. was directed to seek Allah’s forgiveness for negligence and through him these instructions are given to the people of faith.

A prophet does not commit a sin knowingly. He presents the best model of good conduct for the people by his own virtuous acts. Trustworthiness, truth, God’s fear and purity of character are the essential characteristics of prophethood, which in Islamic terminology is called the ‘Ismat-e-Anbiya’(innocence of prophet). But sometimes in performing their prophetic duties slight errors are committed by them, which are at once pointed out by the divine revelations, and they are instantly warned. A few such errors or acts of forgetfulness were committed by the Prophet, S.A.W., for which the Quran has unambiguously informed him. Besides these if any other errors were committed by him, then it is not known to us and this is a matter between him and his Lord, and there is no need to indulge into any discussion about them, as it will be fruitless.

Some commentators have interpreted the directive for seeking forgiveness for sins as a command meant only for the ummah, given through the Prophet. But this interpretation is not correct because in the Surah Muhammad the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, has been directed to seek forgiveness for his own and believers’ sins: “And seek forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of men and women of faith.” - (Muhammad: 19)

80. When a command of his Lord comes to him, man, being a slave, should unhesitatingly obey the command, but those who are proud indulge in unnecessary discussions, but they cannot attain that greatness for which they feel so proud. Very soon they experience disgrace.

81. That is: You should seek refuge from the evil of such people in Allah.

82.That is: He who has created the heavens and the earth, for such a Being creating man is not a difficult task, creation of the sky and the earth is far more difficult. But many people do not know this evident thing.

In modern times, Science has made wonderful discoveries about the universe. In view of these discoveries, it is difficult to estimate the vastness of the universe, because in the milky way we see innumerable stars, and there are quite a number of such milky ways located at a distance of limitless light years from our universe. So for the Being who has created such a vast universe and fixed it in a firm system, nothing is difficult. He can revive the dead persons, and He can re-create the universe.

83. Blind is he who cannot see the reality, and the seer is he who sees the reality. How can the condition of the two be alike and same?

84. ‘Dua’ (prayer) means to invoke, to call, to pray and to request. Here all these meanings are meant. Allah alone should be invoked, and prayer should also be made to Him, because only He can answer the prayer or the call and meet our needs.

This ayah further clarifies that this invocation and prayer is worship, therefore, these acts should be reserved for Allah only. And if any other person is invoked or called in this way or prayed to in this manner, then it would amount to his worship of that person, and would be a deviation from the worship of Allah. In the hadith it is stated that the Prophet, S.A.W., has on the basis of this ayah termed ‘Dua’(prayer, invocation) as worship: “Dua (Invocation): it is worship.” (Tirmizi .Kitabut Tafseer).

Therefore, our lips should utter words like ‘O Allah’, ‘O Lord’, ‘O Rahman’ or ‘O Rahim’. There is no dearth of Muslims in the present times who are found uttering ‘O Ali’, ‘O Ghauth’ 310 (Abdul Qadir Jilani), ‘O Khwaja’. They indulge in polytheism. For further explanation, see Surah Baqarah Note Nos. 247, 248. m m m m m m S. 40 Dawatul Quran

It is He who created you from dust, then from a life germ, and then a clot of blood, then brings you forth as a child, then (lets you) reach manhood, and then grow into old age, though some of you die before so that you may reach an appointed term, and so that you may understand. (AL-Quran) Dawatul Quran S. 40